By Sean Duncan

LINCOLNSHIRE ? Monday?s game between No. 9 Stevenson and No. 12 Mundelein was cruising along through three innings at a clip one would expect when two top teams get together ? despite some joker behind the plate who called strikes with a point of a finger, followed by ?Oh Yeah!? (no joke), and stood a good four feet behind the catcher, which, one could only conclude, was why he couldn?t identify a consistent strike.

Then the fourth inning came ? and seemingly never went.

?Oh no!?

When the fourth inning mercifully finished, Stevenson had erased an early deficit and was well on its way to a 7-4 North Suburban Lake victory to sweep Mundelein in this hyped-up two-game series.

Eight consecutive batters reached base for Stevenson in the fourth inning as the Patriots (20-2, 8-0) handed the once red-hot Mustangs (20-4, 6-4) their fourth consecutive loss.

Stevenson trailed 2-0 heading into the fourth inning before the Patriots pounded out six hits, and was the recipient of a costly error on a two-strike sacrifice bunt by catcher Dylan Douglas to load the bases. The Patriots followed with four consecutive singles, including two-run hits by junior second baseman Jack Karras and junior shortstop Adam Walton, to give them a 6-2 advantage.

?Oh Yeah!?

?It seems like the first time we see pitcher we don?t do much, but as we keep seeing him we find ways to put some runs together,? said Walton, who finished the game 3-for-4 with two RBI. ?Luckily everything was finding a hole. We just kept putting the ball in play and made some things happen.?

Walton, who?s verbally committed to the University of Illinois, also executed a suicide squeeze bunt that he beat out for a hit to give Stevenson a 7-4 cushion in the sixth. Harvard-bound third baseman Michael Martin went 1-for-1, reached base all four plate appearances, stole three bases, scored two runs and drove in one for Stevenson. Brandon Waters, who had three hits in Saturday?s 6-2 win over Mundelein, added another run-scoring single in the fourth.

The big inning made a winner out of starter Blake Fiedelman (3-0), who allowed four hits, struck out three and walked five in four innings. Villanova-bound right-hander Tyler Radtke pitched the final three innings, yielding no earned runs, two hits, while striking out two and walking two.

Luis Carrasco ripped a run-scoring double for Mundelein in the first inning, Nik Gastfield had an RBI single in the third, and Charlie Gandolfi scored two runs for the Mustangs.

?They?re a great team,? said Walton. ?We just never give up. Each game it?s a different guy who steps up for us, and we just find ways to win.?

(Editor?s Note: For the record, this was the only time I?ve ever written about an umpire in 15 years of covering high school baseball.)